Filming guidelines are ‘not a bid to censor transparency’
The FEI has clarified its policy over the filming at and sharing footage from its major events
THE FEI has confirmed that updates to a filming policy are to protect broadcasting agreements – and “in no way an attempt to censor or prohibit transparency”.
Confusion has arisen after updates to the FEI’s social media guidelines at “FEInamed events”. Although this policy is not new, concerns were raised by some that they could have an impact on openness in the industry.
FEI-named events include World and European Championships, World Cups, Nations Cups and the Longines League of Nations, and the guidelines apply to “non-rights holders” (NRH) such as riders, grooms, owners, national federations, spectators, officials and accredited media.
The policy relates to content published on websites, blogs, social media and mobile apps.
A NRH can film at an event – but live-streaming or sharing field-of-play footage on social media is forbidden. Field-of-play areas include the main arena, warm-up areas, kiss-and-cry zones and the cross-country course.
Riders may share footage provided by the FEI, of their rounds, on their own social media. Still images can be posted without restriction. It is also forbidden to film and sell footage or to “otherwise commercially exploit footage”.
asked the FEI for clarification and a spokesman confirmed that the reason for revising the guidelines was to “bring them up to date and provide more clarity around who can post” at named events.
“It’s important to highlight this aspect of ‘FEI-named events’, as there are many equestrian events that follow FEI rules, but these guidelines [only] refer to the likes of the World Cup, Nations Cup, etc. These events have agreements between the FEI and thirdparty broadcasters,” he said.
“At these events, the rights to film and broadcast moving images are sold to broadcasters, so they have exclusive rights to the footage and to televise the
competitions. Therefore, the FEI needs to restrict access to field-of-play footage to ‘rightsholding broadcasters’ (RHB) this is to ensure compliance with the FEI’s media rights contracts with those RHBs.”
References in the previous policy to NRH media being able to post some short clips of the field of play to their own Instagram channels have been removed “to be in line with the contractual agreements”.
“This restriction, while it has created some controversy, is standard industry practice in sports, and you will find similar regulations apply to many other sporting events,” the spokesman said.
“If anyone sees behaviour they have a concern about at an FEI event, including named events, there is no issue with the person filming it. We strongly encourage anyone who has observed concerning behaviour to report it by sharing footage directly with the FEI for follow-up.”
ENFORCEMENT
H&H asked how the guidelines will be enforced and the spokesman said the FEI realises “this is difficult”, as NRH media can film on smartphones and upload to channels without anyone knowing. So the FEI will distribute the guidelines to named events to share on site.
Violations will be assessed on a “case by case basis”, but the FEI may request that social media platforms remove content that breaches copyright, or ask organisers to remove an outlet or person’s accreditation at the event, or future events.
The spokesman said the
FEI wants to “emphasise that these guidelines are in no way an attempt to censor anyone or prohibit transparency”.
“They are in place to ensure the rights of RHBs are fully respected,” he said. “The athletes can post their rounds on their social media, and the national federations can post all their athletes’ rounds. So all rounds could be posted online as long as they follow these guidelines, which remove the issue of people uploading footage for commercial gains.”